Professor Carolyn Evans, who has cowritten a book on academic freedom and freedom of speech, said the laws have a very wide scope that presents a danger to academic freedom.

"It extends beyond the formal agreements. It also extends to things like an exchange of emails where two colleagues from different universities agree to write a paper together. So it starts to get into quite a lot of the nitty gritty of academic life," she said.

The law created a scheme for state and territory governments, departments and entities to seek approval from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to enter into any arrangement with foreign entities.

Professor Evans said it could hinder academics in their day-to-day work.

"I think we need to be careful about balancing the legitimate needs to ensure national security and prevent improper foreign interference with the need to understand that universities and university staff need to be able to engage globally if they're going to be able to do their job properly."

Meanwhile, parliament is on the verge of passing the Higher Education Support Amendment (Freedom of Speech) Bill 2020 which replaces the words "free intellectual inquiry" with "academic freedom and freedom of speech" and adds a definition of academic freedom. Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party called for this amendment as a condition for supporting the Coalition's job ready graduates package.

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During the debate, Labor's Graham Perrett argued cuts to government funding for universities and making students fork out more for their degrees were the real threats to academic freedom.

Professor Evans said academic freedom didn't require a particular level of funding. "But I do think you're going to have the most healthy, diverse and vibrant academic environment which encourages free speech if universities are sufficiently well funded."

She said it was a useful clarification of existing laws.

"These are actually serious important issues that all academics in all universities should take seriously so I have no problem with making sure we are looking at these issues rigorously.

"But there isn't a crisis on Australian campuses. There are some problems and there are some issues that should be dealt with and we need to deal with it in any sensible and rational ways we can."

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